It is rather fitting for Ulaanbaatar, the modern-day capital of the country which was once the largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world, to have traffic lights which depict horsemen. After all, the Mongol Empire was built on the back of a fast-moving equestrian army, and modern Mongolia, with less than three million people inhabiting an area larger than Texas, Montana and California combined, still sees plenty of use for horses.

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But this photo may be a sign of an even more modern Mongolia to come, one more in common with the Persian Gulf than Genghis Khan. Behind the equine lights is the 344-ft Blue Sky Tower, booming Ulaanbaatar’s tallest skyscraper, a clear sign of the vast mineral wealth beneath Mongolia’s endless steppes.